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Temuka Leader, Issue 2499, 6 May 1893, Page 3

Acci(iaumv.r(Off.—A Mr W. K. Cham boys wyiiaa as follows to the Poverty Bay Herald ; —" It may interest your readers to. give some particulars of what I believe is the first shipment of toads to New Zealand. On the It March 30 toads were ai^ij»j»ed"by the Kaikoura and whet!, th*> boxes were opened here on "',kd April :•]•! were found iu order. The live that died were most p:obably hurt before shiprneiit. The plr.n adopted was t) put the torpid toads in boxes filled with wet moss, \yhseh were put in the cool chamh,e? nm\ kept at a temperature of i}. oji the voyage. I alto trinity, have bats sent in the same way—via., shipped while hyb'.ernatjinpr, ttftt my correspondent (Mr It. Arthur/) advised not to send,, ground;,, w^*" 1 think a,re wrqn§\ ' J §lss iiV-' -J- 1 winder.. fyi hay *-" next ipS tiVs ? £ '"itta***"" -neons for hnportyvth'v *" _ome reptiles.' , I find that

~ some new insect pest is imported, and it seem? that the most rational way to combat them is to introduce their natural enemies, whether they be birds beasts, reptiles or insects. The toad and the bat being purely insectivorous, I hope to be able to acclimatise them her^." Reminiscence. —The Bulletin remarks: — The Maoriknd poisoning case, in which Alexander Scott was dry nurse, recalls the passing away of the still lamented Mrs Woolcott, of Yorke's Peninsula (S.A.), only she was " more so " than Scott. She had a tendvussv for a stranger within her gat s, and she chose mutton-broth and sloppy mixtures ;is convenient vehicles for administering to her husband irritant poisons—" white precipitate'' and other bugpowders, for in- • timcj. Mrs W. was a personable charmer of outward religious tcnderi'dcs, and used to sootln! her husband's interna] pains with audible appeais to heaven for his proviJenfcial deliverance therefrom. A hardhearted jury afterwards found the prayerful wife guilty of murder. She protested her innocence, and s id she was quite ready to ••:0 to /'ion ; nevertheless, she weakened when all hopes of a reprieve were shattered, and owned up. However, she convinced her clerical attendant that she died penitent, which event (if memory serves aright) occurred on a Kew Year's morning. She w-s dressed for the journey in a white bookmuslin frock, and carried a bunch of flowers. "When she was on the scaffold, a picnic-party went by, with a band playing "Sn.-.h jelly dogs arc wo !" A man named Ridgway was under sentence of death at the time, He also was imioeei.t, and monster petitions for his reprieve were signed, but Mrs Wonlcott's- exit had the strange effect of causing him to confess and ask to be allowed to swing alongside of her. The authorities only Kept him a. wecJs longer,